Future Fund plans to review investment in tobacco

A DECISION by the Future Fund to review its investment in tobacco companies has been applauded by health groups and the Greens.

The National Heart Foundation of Australia welcomed the move but called for the review to be "transparent and open".

Australian Medical Association wrote to the chair of the Future Fund, David Gonski, earlier this week outlining "health, moral and economic arguments against the use of Australian taxpayers' money to benefit big tobacco".

Greens health spokesman Richard Di Natale, who has a bill before the Senate that would force the Future Fund to divest its tobacco stocks, described the review as a "welcome step".

"The only logical outcome of the fund's internal review is to recommend for the divestment of those holdings," he said.

The Future Fund's $219 million in tobacco holdings have come under regular examination by the Greens in Senate Estimates and the announcement of the review comes just days before Mr Gonski was due to testify in front of Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee for the first time.